How many current/former Active E drivers on this board?

[dennis]

Just returned mine on the 23rd of February and still have an i3 on order and wondering whether to just back out... The latest about the i3 REX not being on the official Green Sticker list is bumming me out and is the additional straw (on top of removing the sunroof) to push me toward leaving BMW.

Have any of you read the Transport Evolved article on Electronauts and the i3? it encompasses a lot of what has demotivated me on the car.

Mostly the sticker thing and the loss of HOV access... I could go to all EV, but prefer the 150 miles of range of the REX. (Would've preferred all battery to get that, but not what BMW designed).

 

[MikeS]

Maybe you should target this at the USA (California) audience an put it in the Local/Regional Discussions thread?

 

[Harry]

Dennis,

Look at this post http://electronautx.blogspot.com/2014/01/green-or-white.html and you will see the i3 REX will get stickers. It appears that the decision on green or white has not been made yet. I have seen this same information on other sites/blogs and I sent a request for information thru CalCars for confirmation. I ordered the BEV which qualifies for the white stickers. The worry for the green stickers is that they are in limited numbers and you have to hope they are still available when you get your car. I read somewhere that one work around might be to get your VIN number as soon as you can and work with the dealer to register the car so you can apply for the stickers. That's IF the final verdict for the REX i3 is the green stickers. In any event, I would wait to cancel my order to the last possible minute as it appears things will change between now and delivery. If you cancel and then change your mind you move to the back of the que again.

Hope that helps.

 

[woof]

I'm still in my ActiveE, have a BEV i3 on order. I read the TE article and agree with everything said there. I really want more battery range, and would be willing to pay extra for it. I had a long conversation with Jacob Harb about this at the NJ Electronaut event. Blah blah blah, 40 miles average drive, blah blah. A true 100 mile range in all weather is all we ask They spent so much effort making the i3 light, and then hobble it with similar range to a LEAF and instead offer an ICE. What a mistake.

I am also of the opinion that BMW didn't really "listen" to us at all. Maybe they learned from Tom a bit (EcoPro+ mode), but there are some very silly "mistakes" they made with the ActiveE that we discussed on the old forum that are STILL on the i3.

For example, according to the manual, the charge flap locks when the car is locked. On the old forum there was a whole thread on how silly this was, and how it didn't allow others to plug you in when they were done charging, or close your flap if you were done charging and they took the plug. On the 1 Series it was the old gas flap, so locking that makes sense. But why would they do this on a purpose built EV if they had read that thread?

Another example: it appears the "comfort/eco pro mode" is not sticky or tied to the fob, and keeps defaulting back to "comfort". Wasn't that like the number one request on the old forum? How could they be so deaf to that one?

So yeah, not feeling the BMW Electronaut love.

--Woof!

 

[mabooker76]

I am in agreement with woof, but still think the i3 is the next car to have...

(I have some advantage in that I was probably one of the last Electonauts on board and my lease does not expire until the beginning of April - so I have less of a bridge to an early May delivery.)

It seems as if BMW needed to 'split' the requirements somehow so that they could guarantee the wild success they apparently are having in Europe (8000 or so ordered) in the US, and the large potential CA market. My slogan to BMW management when they hosted the E event at the LA Autoshow was '100/100' (range/mph) and while the latter might be more than the EV motor can handle the range number was very important. I would surmise building cars specifically for world regions is cost prohibitive, even more so for EVs, and 'California cars' have not been built since the '70's.

I suppose it could just be a 'statistics' problem; averages (commuting, etc.) are fine but you need to do a little more analysis. Most Western US cities are just nothing like European ones, and that does affect driving requirements. It could also be that though a lot of investment has been made toward the 'i brand', it is the typical corporate situation of new small business segment needs/direction versus the rest of the flow. The back and forth with corporate FS is one example, and I understand the i management had to go to Germany to discuss.

Though it does feel like we are still in 'Electonaut mode' here on a production vehicle, hopefully these are just bumps in the road and BMW will get it sorted.

MAB